84 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



son, when the bark becomes more or less frozen 

 by intense cold, and this is followed by a sud- 

 den change, and a hot sunshine upon the frozen 

 bark causes ruptured cells and vital injury to 

 the part affected. We know of no remedy, but 



the evil might be prevented by protection of 

 the crotches and upper sides of the limbs from 

 the rays of the sun. We have found the King 

 and the Spitzenburg especially liable to this 

 evil 



©IpdB^ Lgtt^ff'So 



Importation of Nursery Stock. 



Sir, — I see by reports in late editions of your 

 paper that nurserymen and fruit growers in 

 your vicinity are still urging the Government to 

 continue to prohibit the importation of nursery 

 stock from the United States and compel nur- 

 serymen here to fumigate all home grown nur- 

 sery stock before selling. These laws militate 

 in favor of large growers of trees who do busi- 

 ness mostly by agents, and against smaller 

 growers whose business is mostly local, and also 

 against the general planter who has to pay 

 higher prices on account of said prohibition and 

 fumigation, and judging by the names as given 

 of those who had those meetings, they are the 

 large growers of nursery stock and fruit growers 

 who are inspectors and draw Government pay, 

 and others whom they scare by stories of the ter- 

 rible ravages of the San Jose Scale. I don't 

 believe that the scale is half so bad as those in- 

 spectors would have us believe, who go about 

 the country with their pockets full of bottled 

 vermin, which they exhibit while in gardens and 

 orchards where danger of spreading is greatest, 

 and if it is such a serious pest it can be overcome 

 by spraying the same as other scale and bugs 

 and things. 



I was glad to find that Mr. Dearness, one of 

 the Government Commission, was of the same 

 opinion as myself, and in the January 6th issue 

 of American Gardening you will find a writer 

 saying that he has proved that spraying with 

 crude Petroleum will entirely destroy San Jose 

 Scale without in the least injuring the trees. 



A nurseryman who does a large business by 

 agents can quit selling by April the first, 

 have a large fumigation house, dig all his trees 



and fumigate them all at once, and ship and de- 

 liver at the proper time. 



The small grower does business differently. 

 He depends on the farmers and fruit growers 

 in his vicinity to come in and get what they 

 want. When spring opens they are very busy, 

 and when they call for trees they are in a hurry 

 and rather than wait to have their stock fumi- 

 gated they will go home without it and not likely 

 return, so we have in such cases to lose the 

 sale or break the law. When a man has a certi- 

 ficate from a Government Inspector that his 

 nursery is clean and has pressing bills to meet, 

 which should he do } Laws should be framed 

 so as to make it as easy to do right and hard to 

 do wrong as is consistent with the public good. 



I would be in favor of having competent in- 

 spectors inspect the nurseries twice a year at 

 the owner's expense ; give the clean nurseries a 

 certificate to that effect on which they could do 

 business without hindrance, where scale is 

 found put a man in charge till every vestige of the 

 same is destroyed. I also favor the importation 

 of stock from Northern States when accom- 

 panied by certificate subject to inspection when 

 opened here. 



When the prohibition law was put in force 

 nurserymen said prices would not be increased. 

 But we find in some lines this year prices double 

 what they were three years ago. The fact is 

 there are not half enough apple trees in the 

 country to supply the demand, and nurserymen 

 are not slow to take advantage of the fact to 

 raise prices when they can so easily get an ad- 

 vance. 



Yours truly, A. W. Graham. 



Nurseryman and Fruit Grower, St. Thomas, Ont. 



